How much has it cost?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The total budget is now \u00a324 million more than the original 2019 forecast (roughly 57% higher).\n<\/p>\n
\n Renfrewshire Council is the largest single funder, having contributed top ups of \u00a312.5 million in December 2024 and \u00a34.5 million in November 2025.\n<\/p>\n
\n The project also received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Historic Environment Scotland, Regeneration Capital Grant funding from the Scottish Government, \u00a3200,000 from the Wolfson Foundation, and various other donations from a charitable fundraising campaign.\n<\/p>\n
\n The current price tag is sitting at \u00a368.7 million, and concerns have been raised that running costs could be higher than original projections once the museum opens.\n<\/p>\n
What can we expect from the collection?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n ![]()
Inside new welcome foyer, looking back towards the entrance (Image: Renfrewshire Council)\n<\/p>\n
\n The Paisley Museum collection contains 350,000 items, from art and archaeology to natural history, science, textiles, and more. This includes the world\u2019s largest collection of more than a thousand Paisley Shawls, an impressive collection of 20th century studio ceramics and a significant Natural History collection.\n<\/p>\n
\n Working from the town\u2019s Secret Collection, the\u00a0Museum\u00a0team have worked on around 100 displays \u2013 many of which have been co-produced with local people and groups from across the world.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
What will the new Paisley Museum be like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n The museum redesign was led by international architects AL_A. The most striking feature is a new dramatic red-glass accessible entrance and panoramic extension on the High Street.\n<\/p>\n
\n The A-listed main building and the Coats Observatory have undergone significant external and internal repairs. The galleries on every floor have been modernised, and the exhibition space has been doubled. A new wing connects the museum to the observatory for the first time. Dedicated learning spaces, a heritage centre, and a new caf\u00e9-restaurant and shop have also been introduced as part of the revamp.\n<\/p>\n
\n A new outdoor garden and public space have been created which opens up previously hidden views of Scotland\u2019s largest observatory.\n<\/p>\n
\n The reopened museum is expected to draw thousands of visitors to Paisley town centre each year.\n<\/p>\n
\n The new cultural flagship has been billed as the jewel in the crown of the Renfrewshire town\u2019s redevelopment – part of an ongoing cultural renaissance initiative that has seen more than \u00a3100 million invested in capital projects over the last decade.\n<\/p>\n
\n These include the \u00a322million transformation of Paisley Town Hall, a \u00a37million development of Paisley Learning and Cultural Hub housing Paisley Central Library on the High Street, and a \u00a33million refurbishment of Paisley Arts Centre.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n In addition, the new \u00a385.5 million state-of-the-art Paisley Grammar School Community Campus will open its doors to pupils and staff this year, a multi-phase regeneration masterplan is underway in Paisley\u2019s West End to deliver new social and private housing, and the community-led \u2018Making\u00a0of\u00a0Ferguslie\u2019 plan is delivering tangible regeneration to Ferguslie Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paisley Museum closed in September 2018 for what was then billed as a \u00a342 million transformation into a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,4884,712,16,15],"class_list":["post-786823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-glasgow","tag-britain","tag-glasgow","tag-great-britain","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116128190743619219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}